Look. Something beautiful. Every day.

Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest

Whoo hoo! The Harmonistas took it on the road! We competed at the 52nd Annual Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest with this Gospel Mash-Up that we arranged ourselves. This is us on the Railroad Stage, in the sing off. There were about 30 contestants in the preliminary competition.

Here’s my man Hydra performing The Shoals of Herring on the Railroad Stage! So proud of him. Such a manly man song!!

The Harmonistas advanced to the Main Stage with 7 or 8 other groups/singers.

Hanging out in the green room. I honestly felt like this was just a victory lap. We created the mash up on a Saturday afternoon/evening about a month before the contest, spent the night at , tweaked it the next day. We had one more rehearsal a week before the contest. We each live an hour, minimum, from each other’s homes and we are all busy women!

One of my best moments was when the green room manager complimented us on our positive attitudes. He said it would show on stage and people would love it. We did get people moving, and that was great. Also wonderful to see our supportive Songmakers friends in the audience.

We didn’t place in the top three, but we had a terrific day. We were all a little hesitant about competing. But it was good to have a goal and a set of performance criteria to boost our game.

The scene at Songmakers Corner later in the day. Lots of people singing and playing along with the members on stage. This is where Hydra and I learned about Songmakers about 14 years ago!

A Songmaker member, Toni, loaned her dog to an audience member.

There was a solar eclipse late in the afternoon. This shot was taken through a little cardboard and plastic viewer we bought at the festival with my little Nikon S6000. A lot of people didn’t have viewers, so I had a lot of fun sharing mine.

One guy looked and then said, “Oh, so I guess the sky gods aren’t angry with us. I’ll go cut down that kid.” Ha!

This girl was viewing it old school! She had five or six little holes in one piece of a cracker box, projecting the crescents onto the other piece. Those are her proud parents in the background.

Lastly, some of the cool handmade cigar box instruments for sale by one of the many vendors, Bellybox Instruments. They also had a cigar box amp, and all of these have sound pick ups in them!

Wonderful day. Thanks to all the volunteers who make this possible. Especially our friend, Carl Gage!